What happened to Wokingham (THWM)?

Wokingham exchange (THWM) is part of the Phase 4 implementation and had an original estimated go live date of June 2010.

I know a number of cabs have been upgraded around the town including mine. An Openreach engineer has confirmed that my cab is ready to go. I also realise that this is no use unless the exchange is also done.

However in the Openreach update in May there were doubts about 7 Exchanges meeting the 30 June date, one of which was Wokingham. http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/news/productbriefing...

In July the Openreach update it confirmed that all 7 were all due for delivery in Q2 2010, so by 30 September. http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/news/productbriefing...

Openreach have just updated the Where and When list (http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/products/nga/downloads/fttc_pot_exchs.pdf)and 5 of those 7 exchanges are taking CP orders with Crowthorne still down as September.

But Wokingham now has an Estimated Date of December 2010. Anybody know what is going on with this exchange? Or why it has been put back again? Remember the original date was June.

As I am 4.7km from the exchange with an estimated line lenght of 8.8km, all I can get is 1.8Mbps on Sky LLU so FTTC would be a huge speed boost for me.

Had heard the problem was with the 'head end' in the exchange.

Thanks Zarjaz

If it is a problem holding it up will Openreach stick to the new December date or start taking CP orders when the problem is fixed?

IIRC if the headend issue is resolved and 10 or more FTTC cabs are ready for service the exchange area will be listed as 'Accepting CP orders'

So is there anyway to find out what the problem is and what the expected resolution date will be?

The problem is assumed to be with the headend (bit of kit in the exchange that all the FTTC cabs connect in to).
Expected fix time - don't know I am afraid, you could knock on the exchange door?

I have just been reading through NGA029/10 GEA-FTTC and FTTP roll-out update - September 2010 published on 30th September.

In it it states that "Crowthorne, and Wokingham are now all due for delivery by the end of Q3 2010/11", forgive me for being dumb but isn't the end of Q3 the 31st September or do Openreach work to different annual quarters?

The latest Exchange Rollout documents have Wokingham's service date as December 2010, which to me is the end of Q4.

If anyone knows what the hold up is and when it is likely to be resolved then please let me know.

Paul

There is only 30 days in September.

In reply to a post by Paul_H:

I have just been reading through NGA029/10 GEA-FTTC and FTTP roll-out update - September 2010 published on 30th September.

In it it states that "Crowthorne, and Wokingham are now all due for delivery by the end of Q3 2010/11", forgive me for being dumb but isn't the end of Q3 the 31st September or do Openreach work to different annual quarters?

The latest Exchange Rollout documents have Wokingham's service date as December 2010, which to me is the end of Q4.

If anyone knows what the hold up is and when it is likely to be resolved then please let me know.

Paul

End of Q3 is 31 December. 2010/11 year starts 1 April 2010.

Certainly has been delivered in Winnersh as I was installed 20-Dec.

Anyone know if Wokingham is up and running now on VDSL2?

I assume to take advantage to this I will need to switch to BT Infinity??

Yes it is and of course it's BT Infinity that provides it.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Anyone know if Wokingham is up and running now on VDSL2?

I assume to take advantage to this I will need to switch to BT Infinity??

No, you can choose from many ISPs http://www.robertos.me.uk/html/isps_offering_fttc.html

Well.. the BT Infinity Broadband website says it's still not available based on my wokingham post code. (I'm less than 1kn from the exchange).

(I don't currently have a BT phone line).

also... samknows.com is still saying 31.12.2010 as the go-live date but not confirmed it's completed.

Next thing to find out.. when are Sky going to start FTTC in Wokingham.. I can't believe TalkTalk are ahead of them!

I am on the Wokingham exchange and have had FTTC through Aquiss for about 6 weeks.

I had the same issue with BT Infinity saying it was not available and it is because the BT estimate for my line was 11.6Mbps. I actually get 30Mbps down and 10Mbps up.

BT Retail will not take orders for Infinity if the estimate is below 15Mbps, if your estimate is also below 15 then either you will need to find another ISP rather than BT or wait until they release a sub 15Mbps product. I still get the BT emails saying how sorry that they are that it's not available when I already have FTTC enabled.

If you use http://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html this will tell you what the BT estimate for your line is. If it doesn't recognise your phone number use the postcode checker.

I migrated from Sky because they don't seem to have an FTTC product anytime soon. I suspect that my 1 year contract could be up before Sky have anything but considering how good Aquiss have been I'm not sure I would go back.

thanks, I just checked the BT Wholesale link and it says 31st March 2011 my cabinet will be enabled even though I live in central Wokingham.

I guess a little longer to wait still... strange.

actually, double checking the message - this is what is says...

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial check on your address indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a fixed line speed up to 2Mbps.

Our check also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 4.5Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 3Mbps and 7.5Mbps.

Our check also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 6Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 3.5Mbps and 8.5Mbps. Our test also indicates that your line could support an estimated ADSL 2+ Annex-M broadband upstream line speed of 1Mbps and downstream line speed of 3.5Mbps; typically the downstream speed would range between 2.5Mbps and 4.5Mbps.

Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 31st March 2011. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed of 10.7 Mbps and upstream line speed of 4.6 Mbps.

This last bit says I have WBC FTTC now but also that I'm due to get WBC FTTC by 31st March... brain hurting!!!!